Island of solidarity

In Saratov, about a hundred people gathered near the building of the regional Duma - this was a protest rally of journalists against pressure from the authorities. The reasons for the rally were the prosecution of several regional publications at once. Meetings on these matters are being held today. The first is in relation to the head of the Saratovsky Rasklad newspaper, Vladimir Spiryagin, who published information that State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Volodin allegedly wounded a young woman with a speargun. Volodin’s press service called this article a provocation against the deputy and United Russia, noting that the parliamentarian himself was in Moscow that day. It is noteworthy that the regional prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under an article of libel on the day the material was published. The trial in this case was postponed today. The second case is related to the publication of a collage depicting Vladimir Putin in the guise of the Soviet intelligence officer Stirlitz in the Saratov Reporter newspaper. The closure of this publication is now required by the local department of Rosokhrankultura. In this case, the department refers to articles of the law on countering extremist activities. Earlier, representatives of 11 Saratov publications sent an open letter to President Vladimir Putin calling on him to influence the situation with freedom of speech in the region.